LOS ANGELES (NewsNation) — The Los Angeles Dodgers have been holding Pride Nights for 10 years, but this year’s edition, taking place Friday night, became entangled last month in a high-profile controversy.

The Dodgers will present the Community Hero Award to a satirical LGBTQ+ group called the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence for their charity work and for raising awareness for the trans community, but Republican lawmakers and religious leaders have said they mock Catholicism.

“They’ve decided to award a group called the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, which is nothing more than an anti-Christian anti-Catholic hate group,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). “Its members have dressed for years in perverse imitation of Catholic nuns. They’ve burned the pope in effigy.”

The Sisters’ performers, mostly men who dress flamboyantly as nuns, are active in protests and charitable programs, and according to their website, the group “advocates for human rights and promotes respect for diversity and spiritual enlightenment.”

“We do dress as nuns and people are offended by that. We don’t do that in a way to mock traditional sisters or nuns in any way,” one of the group;’s members said. “We do it to spark attention, and we’ve certainly have gotten people’s attention. So now let’s talk about important things, like the attacks against our trans community.”

Under criticism from some conservative Catholics, the team rescinded an invitation to the group to be honored at Pride Night.

A week later, after a vehement backlash from LGBTQ+ groups and their allies, the Dodgers reversed course — re-inviting the Sisters’ Los Angeles chapter to be honored for its charity work and apologizing to the LGBTQ+ community.

The Dodgers’ reversal was welcomed by LGBTQ+ allies, including some Catholic nuns. But it infuriated many conservative Catholics, even at the highest levels of the U.S. hierarchy.

On Monday, the team was lambasted in a statement from Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Military Services.

They asked Catholics to pray on Friday “as an act of reparation for the blasphemies against our Lord we see in our culture today.”

“A professional baseball team has shockingly chosen to honor a group whose lewdness and vulgarity in mocking our Lord, His Mother, and consecrated women cannot be overstated,” the archbishops said. “This is not just offensive and painful to Christians everywhere; it is blasphemy.”

Although official Catholic teaching opposes same-sex marriage and same-sex sexual activity, there are many Catholics who want the church to be more inclusive toward LGBTQ+ people. Among them are nuns in the U.S. who have ministered empathetically to LGBTQ+ Catholics, and took note when the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence made news last month.

One of them, Sister Jeannine Gramick, has ministered to LGBTQ+ Catholics for more than 50 years and is a co-founder of New Ways Ministry, which advocates on their behalf.

She publicly shared a letter she wrote to the Dodgers, welcoming their re-invitation to the drag group and saying its members deserved recognition for their charity work.

“While I am uncomfortable with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence using the nuns’ old garb to draw attention to bigotry, whether Catholic or not, there is a hierarchy of values in this situation,” Gramick wrote.

Some conservative religious leaders said they oppose the entire concept of Pride Nights.

The Sisters’ performers attended the Los Angeles Angels Pride Night on June 7, where they were met with open arms by many, including Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken. However, that didn’t stop dozens of protesters from calling foul, holding a prayer circle in front of Angel Stadium.

“We have the problem with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,” said Brother Marko Sarducci, of the OC Concerned Catholics. “That whole thing is a mockery on our religion and anybody that supports them or brings them into an event like this. We don’t like it.”

Leaders of the group say they are interested in having an open dialogue with anyone who may have questions about their organization.

“Let’s have a conversation and you can find out what we do,” said Sister Unity of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. “Then, feel free to make your assessment and to make your pronouncements.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.